Greg Palast: Recipe for a Cooked Election

[kpete]

MARIN COUNTY'S NEWS MONTHLY - FREE PRESS
[phone] - [phone](fax) - P.O. Box 31, Bolinas, CA, 94924

October, 2006

Recipe for a Cooked Election
By Greg Palast


A nasty little secret of American democracy is that, in every national election, ballots cast are simply thrown in the garbage.

A nasty little secret of American democracy is that, in every national election, ballots cast are simply thrown in the garbage. Most are called "spoiled," supposedly unreadable, damaged, invalid. They just don't get counted. This "spoilage" has occurred for decades, but it reached unprecedented heights in the last two presidential elections. In the 2004 election, for example, more than three million ballots were never counted.

Almost as deep a secret is that people are doing something about it. In New Mexico, citizen activists, disgusted by systematic vote disappearance, demanded change - and got it.

In Ohio, during the 2004 Presidential election, 153,237 ballots were simply thrown away - more than the Bush "victory" margin. In New Mexico the uncounted vote was five times the Bush alleged victory margin of 5,988. In Iowa, Bush's triumph of 13,498 was overwhelmed by 36,811 votes rejected. The official number is bad enough - 1,855,827 ballots cast not counted, according to the federal government's Elections Assistance Commission. But the feds are missing data from several cities and entire states too embarrassed to report the votes they failed to count.

Correcting for that under-reporting, the number of ballots cast but never counted goes to 3,600,380. Why doesn't your government tell you this?

Hey, they do. It's right there in black and white in a US Census Bureau announcement released seven months after the election - in a footnote. The Census tabulation of voters voting in the 2004 presidential race "differs," it reads, from ballots tallied by the Clerk of the House of Representatives by 3.4 million votes.

This is the hidden presidential count, which, with the exception of the Census's whispered footnote, has not been reported. In the voting biz, most of these lost votes are called "spoilage." Spoilage, not the voters, picked our President for us. Unfortunately, that's not all. In addition to the three million ballots uncounted due to technical "glitches," millions more were lost because the voters were prevented from casting their ballots in the first place. This group of un-votes includes voters illegally denied registration or wrongly purged from the registries.

more at:
http://www.coastalpost.com/06/10/01.html

[havocmom]

1. K & R Thanks for posting. Palast is working hard to help people see

The Truth Is Out There. Don't settle for letting the GOP sweep it under the rug!

[sam sarrha]

2. nominated... lets save this one for all to see..!!

[acmejack]

3. KnR

[mom cat]

4. Demand paper ballots and manditory random recounts!

[liam_laddie]

5. Kicked! 'n' Recommended! n/t

[liberalla]

6. New DVD out ... Stealing America: Vote by Vote

Stealing America: Vote by Vote

http://www.stealingamerica.org/

Thanks to a post by Kip Humphrey in another thread I got turned onto this new film.

STEALING AMERICA: Vote by Vote
a New Feature-length Documentary by
EMMY-winning, OSCAR-nominated filmmaker Dorothy Fadiman

STEALING AMERICA: Vote by Vote documents significant irregularities in the Presidential election of 2004 while underscoring the fact that election fraud and reform are not partisan issues. The film weaves together dramatic behind-the-scenes experiences of poll workers, computer security experts, journalists, politicians, activists and voters of all ages. We hear from those who feel their communities were targeted for intimidation during the election, side by side with descriptions of irregular machine tallies, in which the number of votes tallied don't equal the number of votes cast.

The Presidential election of 2004 ignited both personal, as well as political passions for millions of people. For many, their involvement did not end when the election was over.

You can order personal copies for $5.oo until Nov. 1. After that the price goes up.

$5.00 for individuals (plus $5 S/H)
$18.99 for libraries and institutions (plus $7 S/H)

Donations to help underwrite this outreach are tax deductible above the cost of the DVD(s).

Until November 1st, Concentric Media will be taking orders and shipping DVDs of "STEALING AMERICA: Vote by Vote" and are basically a donation from Concentric Media to support your efforts.

After that date, orders will go through and be fullfilled by Direct Cinema Limited and the price will be considerably higher to cover the real costs of manufacture, shipping and handling.

more...

I've ordered several and can't wait to see it. Also, great links with specific take action "what you can do" items and resources.

Hope you don't mind my adding this. Not related to Palast, but definitely to the subject.

[AtLiberty]

7. K & R

!!!